Amaan, the Budding Writer

Mohommad Amaan -  Author of 'Until He Was Eighteen'

" I was born in a well-educated and business-oriented family. I love to travel alone and explore different places and people. In the journey of writing my first book 'UNTIL HE WAS EIGHTEEN' I have come across many types of people who have supported me throughout and some have tried to pull me down. I took inspiration from everything and every sentence ignoring its negativity. 

I was good in studies and had lots of fun in school. From class 1st to class 4th, I was in the same school. In class 5th my school got changed. I was new in school and did not know anyone. Like it happens, children try to trouble new students, the same happened with me and I got suspended the very first day. When I was in class 6th a motivational speaker came to our school. That's when I thought of writing a book. His speech inspired me a lot. He said that youngsters in India should do something because this generation is just aiming to be successful without actually doing anything to be successful. After his speech, I talked to myself that I could be a writer. I like doing self-talking and believe we can find the answers to our questions way much better than anyone else advice as we know ourselves better than anyone else. Only we know what we are and not others. I like writing since I was a child and my mother tells me when I was 2-years-old I used to write whatever I felt on the walls.  I even like sketching. Everything was normal till class 7th. I used to go to school daily, have fun, and study. But after that, there came a turning point.

I was at my grandmother's place when I fell seriously sick. I was struck down with a fever, had Dengue, became very weak, and was not able to breathe properly. I started to have a lot of problems while breathing. My uncle's friends came to visit me. They were doctors and asked my parents to shift me to a good hospital else I would lose my life. I got discharged from the hospital after two months. I then got to know the importance of life. I hugged my mother and cried. For the next one month, I did nothing but only kept on thinking ' Amaan you should have a vision in life, what you want to do,  what you want to become. If you live like this then thousands of people are living just like this. But you need to make your name.' After one month I sat and wrote four pages for the first time. I remember it was 12 at night when I sat to write and I wrote till 4 in the evening. We need to tell people our feelings but we can do that even by writing. Notebooks hear what we say and we feel lighter.

I also love to play football and my aim earlier was to be a footballer. I was a football captain at my school. I had my official selection for the Under 19 team for the state-level but my parents did not allow me. Another important thing was that I did not have my football kit required for selection. I felt bad and even cried. I missed it in the 8th class and 9th class and then left playing football. I  came back to writing but the four pages I wrote 2 years back were lost now. I started writing again. I remember how I tore the script 7-8 times and even burnt it twice. After I wrote the script, my draft got late due to economical issues. I made the draft on a borrowed laptop. My laptop was brought late with difficulties. I was retained in Social Studies. I gave a retest and got promoted to the next class. I reached class 10th and I thought that I have to do it now anyhow. 

In school, few teachers supported me but most of them said that I won't be able to do anything in life. One day, a teacher asked everybody what they wanted to become in life. The class raised their hands for the doctor, engineer, pilot, etc. I did not raise hands for anyone of those. The teacher came to me and said I would sell vegetables. It was almost lunchtime and the same teacher came to me again and asked me what I actually wanted to be. That was the very first time I told someone about my project. I told him that I want to be a writer and I am even working on my first project. I and my best friends, one among them is a national level and the other is an international level basketball player, were told we won't pass our class 10th. My Science teacher told me I will drive a rickshaw. I think all these statements are very helpful for me in life. My 10th result was out and I got 91% marks. Then I went to the publisher and he showed interest in my script.

I have been going to Delhi all alone for 2 years in a row to promote my book. I took wrong turns, wrong autos, wrong metros and, even walked a lot. On 26 December 2019, my book was finally launched. I gifted that book to my father on new year's eve. I did not mention even a single thing to him about the book before this. For my book's promotion, I personally distributed 2000 cards on India Gate, to the people who read books, to the bookstores, and libraries. Out of 2000 cards, but I only got 7 responses. I understood this is a very small thing and I need to do more good and big things in the future. In my school, my principal organized a function, especially for me, after my book launch. My father went on the stage and said ' I am 50-years-old and this is the first time I am on the stage because of my son' with tears in his eyes. On Amazon, if 10% of your products get returned or canceled, then your products get a ban. My book was banned for 10 days. Society too did not give me a good response but I think I did a good job. After the book launch, my father organized a family function and so many people showered blessings on me. People who said that I won't do anything in life even called my parents to congratulate them. 

'Until He Was Eighteen' is a book about the experiences of a 16-year-old boy named Ayaz. This book is about challenges, school time love, betrayal, heartbreaks, loneliness, and many other issues that are experienced without being expected. At times, we take wrong decisions in life. But when it hits, we come out of our dreams into reality and struggle to keep our life on track of normalcy which is the biggest challenge for the new generation. My book has an elaborated version of this life.

The most important thing I got to learn through all this is patience. It is required to handle all the situations in life. Big things do not happen in a day, we need to work hard for it. I think in life everyone should have a mentor, inspiration, and a punch line which we can use when in stress and make our life healthy. Nowadays mental health is more important than physical health and everything depends on the mindset of the person. We need to become crazy about our passion to achieve it. I think I too have become mad about my passion for writing and I just love it."

Instagram-@mohommadamaan_

* The views expressed in the above article are of the writer and not Winged Club.